Head's Newsletter 17 December 2021

The Covid situation of course continues to be persistent, however, the number of Covid cases we have had in the second half of term has been substantially lower than the number of cases we had in the first half of term. Undoubtedly the control measures in place, in particular the regular testing of students and staff and the extension in October of the vaccination programme to those pupils of secondary age have helped the situation. Clearly the national picture is changing in a worrying direction, and government guidance has changed with it. The government would like us to carry out Covid testing on students as we did in September. Consequently, in line with this we will be staggering the start of January term to allow testing to take place. The details of this are below, and separate emails will be sent regarding the logistics of testing in particular Years 7 to 11. Obviously, arrangements could change over the Christmas break, and if they do, we will of course let you know. In the meantime, I wish all students and their families a very happy Christmas and restful break, and I look forward to seeing students back at school in January. Yours, M D Gascoigne, Headteacher As a result the January return will be slightly different than planned :

Dear Parents After a very busy few weeks we have finally reached the end of the first term of the academic year. It ’ s been great to see so many extracurricular activities back on, including sporting fixtures, music and drama. In particular I ’ m glad that we have been able to hold (albeit reduced) carol services, and have given opportunities for the wonderful choirs to perform, and for both guests and students to listen to such high - quality music. The music this term has been fantastic. It ’ s a privilege to be featured in the Radio Times for Tiffin ‘ s performance on Radio 3 on Christmas Day. Outside of music we ’ ve had consistent sports fixtures, and have been able to conduct virtually a complete season of rugby. We ’ ve also had fixtures in netball, cross - country, and have had rowing tournaments. It ’ s also been fantastic to carry on with house activities and other clubs have been incredibly successful such as chess. On top of this we ’ ve been able to do various day trips including all our ‘ stop the clock day ’ trips . None of this is possible without the dedicated staff who give so much to Tiffin School and enable so many opportunities for the pupils here. It ’ s also been great this term to see the students involvement in charity with significant sums of money being raised for Movember, for Action Aid on period poverty, and for Kingston Hospital ’ s Paediatric Unit.

IMPORTANT DATES

Years 12 & 13 return to normal lessons starting 9.20. Years 7, 10 & 11 will be called in for Covid testing. Years 8 & 9 will be taught remotely. Years 7, & 10 - 13 will be in normal lessons. Years 8 & 9 will be called in for Covid testing All years in normal lessons. Year 11 Parents ’ Consultations (online): school finishes 12.30 for Yrs 7 - 9 and 1.20 for Yrs 10 - 13

Tuesday 4 January

Wednesday 5 January

Thursday 6 January

Yr9 Options talk (online)

Tuesday 11 January

Wednesday 19 January

Year 9 Parents ’ Consultations (online): school finishes 12.30 for Years 10 - 13 and 1.20 for Years 7 - 9

MUSIC NEWS - OPEN CONCERT, NOVEMBER 2021

The music enjoyed by the audience at the Open Concert on 30 th November, with its varied programme of mainly student - led performances, was especially diverse. Beginning with the school Guitar Ensemble playing Somebody That I Used To Know, and ending with the school Rock Band performing a set including Rolling in the Deep and Jailhouse Rock, it was also a great opportunity to hear the student - led collaborations of the Year 8 Chamber Ensemble performing Gabriel ’ s Oboe, and Senior Piano Trio playing the second movement of Schubert ’ s Trio No. 2, a tour de force. Pianists Luke (9MRL), Eric (7JM), Taerim (9KB) and Daniel (8AGS) were joined by singers Saahil (9MRL) and Milo (13LL), and guitarist Siddharth (9MRL) to perform pieces ranging from Mendelssohn ’ s Melodie, through Kodama ’ s Fukashigi No Carte, to Stars from Les Miserables. Kangmin ’ s (8MAG) performance of the virtuosic first movement of Veracini ’ s violin sonata in E was complemented by Christian ’ s (8AGS) impressive performance of Spanish Brandy on the clarinet. Thanks to his informative introduction and authentic presentation, Agastya ’ s (8MAG) performance on the carnatic violin (which can be enjoyed again here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMg1K6N5198) was especially interesting: a performance of Ninnu Kori by Singaraachari. Seated on the floor in traditional dress, accompanied by shruti box drone, Agastya explained before demonstrating brilliantly in his performance the sliding technique at the heart of Indian classical pieces such as this one.

HANDEL MESSIAH CHOIRS CONCERT

To begin the season of Advent, on 2 nd December 2021 at St. Luke ’ s Church Kingston the Tiffin Boys ’ Choir with soloists from the Tiffin Chamber Choir performed part I of Handel ’ s Messiah. This first act of Handel ’ s three - part work sets to music texts relating to the Christmas story (leaving until the second and third parts the stories of the Passion and Easter). For this reason, many of the choruses, performed engagingly by the Boys ’ Choir, especially the many new Year 7 members who had joined the choir only weeks earlier, are familiar fixtures of the season. The energy of these movements such as ‘ And the glory of the Lord ’, ‘ And He shall purify ’, and ‘ His yoke is easy ’ were captured very effectively by the choir and Baroque string ensemble as they performed to a large and supportive audience from the school, church and local area. Particularly impressive were the student soloists drawn from the Chamber Choir. Clara (13RH), Henry (12MM), Isobel (13RH), Milo (13LL), Sophia (13CD) and Vera (13RH) in turn sang with great skill the recitative and (sometimes fiendishly fast) arias which link the choral movements.

The Chamber Choir at the Justice Defenders’ Charity Carol Service, Lambeth Palace

Members of the Chamber Choir were invited again this year to lead the Justice Defenders ’ Charity Carol Service on Wednesday 8 th December, taking place in the chapel of Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of Canterbury ’ s residence. Founded in 2007 as African Prisons Project, the Justice Defenders charity trains paralegals and lawyers within defenceless communities to provide legal services for themselves and others. A selected semi - chorus of the Chamber Choir (reflecting the chapel ’ s small size) led choir and congregational carols which were accompanied by readings and an address by the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who spoke of the importance of the charity ’ s work.

ELIZABETH WINS YOUNG SONGWRITER’S COMPETITON

Congratulations to Elizabeth Pass (12LG) who was recently the winner of Powerjam ’ s Young Songwriter ’ s Competition. She wrote of her experience: “ I was delighted to win the first prize (worth £1,000!) in the Young Songwriter ’ s Competition, launched by Powerjam, a Twickenham based not - for - profit rock & pop band project for ages 9 - 18 led by music industry professionals. My original song, ‘ Now I ’ m Falling ’, was released on all streaming platforms on December 1st, through Powerjam Recordings. My music teacher encouraged me to enter the competition. I didn ’ t really believe that anything would really come out of it, so it was a completely unexpected surprise to find out I won a professional recording and release of my original song. I remember my mum coming in to tell me and it just didn ’ t feel real!

For more details and to hear 'Now I'm Falling', please visit https://www.powerjambands.com/nifepk and follow Powerjam... ”

www.instagram.com/ powerjam_band_project

www.youtube.com/ powerjambandproject

www.facebook.com/ powerjambandproject

RUNNING

CHARIY FUNDRAISING

Borough Championships ladies retain their title along with the senior men., Intermediate boys and the year 7 boys. The borough running was a huge success with our team coming first!

We would like to thank all members of our school community for supporting our charity endeavours this Term. We raised over £4000 with our recent Mufti Day and the donations were divided equally between Action Aid for Period Poverty and Movember. As well as fundraising money for these worthwhile causes, we raised awareness by discussing these important topics during our tutor time sessions Thank you once again for your generosity in supporting Christmas Jumper Day on Monday. We have so far raised £3000 for Kingston Hospital's Paediatric Unit which is fantastic.

The proud winners are pictured below:

Charlotte Harmer

Ameena Miah

Evie Casemore

Natasha Laidlaw

There was a dazzling array of jumpers on display, but special mention must go to Mr Gascoigne for his Crystal Palace offering! Moreover, we were very

pleased to be able to gift a significant number of toys to the Salvation Army's Christmas Present Appeal.

You have all been extraordinarily generous in supporting our charity efforts this term.

the National Schools Chess Championship. The last two to attempt qualification for the knockout stages, the E and F teams, which were composed almost entirely of year 7s, headed down to King ’ s College on Wednesday 24th November. The E ’ s started strong with a 5 - 1 win against JAGS B but lost a fighting match against a very strong KCS U13B team in the final round and lost 2 - 4. The F team lost their first two games but came back with a 6 - 0 consolation win against JAGS B. Despite neither team qualifying, there were still some fantastic games played, most notably by David Varghese, Nyill Ikram and Leo Klimov. Lastly, the D team, bolstered by some of the best players of the E and F teams sought qualification for the knockout stages in an online repechage event. Over the course of a hectic hour, Tiffin established themselves as one of the front runners and then in the dying minutes amidst a flurry of hastily accepted draws and Wayward Queen attacks, Tiffin placed 3rd, thereby qualifying! Particular congratulations are in order to Nyill Ikram (+6=0 - 1) and David Varghese (+5=3 - 2) who both scored 12 points and Ryan Karmaker (+7=0 - 4) who scored 14 points and placed 4th out of all 83 players in the arena. This all means that Tiffin have 4 teams through to the knockout stages of the NSCC, joint most in the country with RGS Guildford and Wilson ’ s.

ALUMNI RETURN TO SUPPORT YEAR 13

We have been really pleased to liaise with so many of our alumni over the last few weeks, who have helped Year 13 students to prepare for upcoming university interviews in a range of subject areas. Gurshant and Alex, pictured here, are currently studying medicine at university and returned to school to test our medicine applicants in our recent mock interview circuit, organised by the Careers team. Thank you to all of the alumni who have offered our Year 13 students support, guidance and experience this term. CHESS Tiffin ’ s A and B teams have continued to perform fantastically in the Ivan Gromov Chess league - a fortnightly classical chess tournament. The A ’ s completed a decisive 5 - 1 thrashing of Eton ’ s B team while the B ’ s beat Brentwood ’ s A team 4 - 2, only losing 2 as a result of defaults. This puts our teams at 4th and 3rd overall in the standings at this stage of the league. The tremendous popularity of chess at Tiffin has led to us entering 6 teams into

1ST XV RUGBY SPOTLIGHT

Following on from the competitive fixture against Brighton College, Tiffin faced two tough fixtures back - to - back in the form of Kings College School and St Benedicts. Unfortunately Tiffin could not raise their game to the standard they had set at Brighton College

and fell to two defeats. Nonetheless the block fixture against St Benedict ’ s School was a fantastic weekend of rugby for everyone involved. Across the weekend 14 teams competed with 200 students representing the school, highlighting the impressive levels of participation Tiffin rugby is exhibiting. Next up Tiffin travelled to Reading Blue Coat School and regained some of the form they had

exhibited earlier in the season. Two well worked tries from full - back Sam Clough and No 8 Sam Jones put Tiffin in a great position going into half - time. Unfortunately the boys fell just short losing out 26 - 17, after Reading scored two late tries to steal the victory. Across the board 11 rugby teams competed against Reading Blue Coat, all of whom played some fantastic rugby despite the snow/sleet/ all round awful weather conditions! Most recently Tiffin faced off against St Cecilia ’ s

Church of England School. The team's first half performance lacked a clinical edge. Despite Tiffin scoring the first try of the game; a pick and go 5 metres out from the back of the scrum from No. 8 Sam Jones who bundled his way over the try line. Tiffin failed to convert the consistent pressure they had into points, with white line fever setting in, the boys knocked the ball on on three separate occasions. This lack gave St Cecilia hope who galvanised and scored a well - worked try to tie the game with 10 minutes of the first half remaining. In the remaining minutes Tiffin found their clinical edge and after dragging in the forwards close to the St Cecilia line, they spread the ball wide through the backs for Rory Dale to dot down in the corner. The second half saw Tiffin playing the game at a higher pace, playing with more width and intensity. Sam Jones utilised some quick thinking and ran in from 25 metres after taking a quick tap - and - go whilst the St Cecilia defence were retreating from a penalty. Captain Tom Armstrong also dotted down in the corner after some strong, with Alex Armstrong and Kai Smith scoring two

final tries. A mention must go to Sam Clough who had a fantastic game at full - back, consistently beating defenders with his quick thinking, and quick step. Knock knock, who's there? It's the cricket season! With Christmas approaching we have seen the much anticipated return of indoor cricket nets. Senior students have already had the opportunity to get back into the swing of things (literally), with more students being offered the opportunity after Christmas.

YR8 VISIT TO FISHBOURNE ROMAN PALACE

STOP THE CLOCK DAY YEAR 7 SCIENCE MUSEUM TRIP

The entire Tiffin Year 7 embarked on their first trip, dubbed the ‘ Trip of The Ages ’ to the Science Museum in South Kensington on Stop the Clock Day. 7JM particularly enjoyed the sections of ‘ Engineer Your Future ’ where they participated in several educational games and activities where they learnt about vehicles; an example of an activity was a game where you could create your own vehicle and see how far it would get. We saw many other fascinating and important scientific discoveries when we were there as well as engineering feats of people in the olden days, including a documentary on different planets with holographic imagery. A great day was had by all! Noah, Raagh, Shriyans & Arawin, 7JM

180 Year 8 Tiffinians enjoyed a day at Fishbourne Roman Palace on Stop the Clock Day. During the course of the visit, they had the opportunity to admire the site's extensive archaeological remains, including some of Europe's finest Roman mosaics. In addition, they participated in a Technology & Construction Workshop with an archaeologist and also experienced what Roman School was like in 1 st Century Britain. Students also undertook research and filming in preparation for their project work for which they have been tasked with producing a 'Grand Designs' style documentary about the Palace. My thanks, as always, go to the staff who accompanied us on the trip, as well as the boys themselves whose behaviour was impeccable and enthusiasm unmistakable.

YR9 WHIPSNADE ZOO TRIP On Thursday 25 th November, on Stop the Clock Day, the whole of Year 9 visited ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. The Biology trip prepared students for their upcoming assessment, which will involve designing a display plaque and builds on work they have done this term on evolution. Students spent the day walking around the 600 - acre zoo, making notes on various animals and their adaptations. They also had a chance to participate in an engaging workshop led by the zoo staff on Evolution and Adaptation, where they were able to get up close and

personal with animal artifacts like shark skulls and giraffe jaws. Other highlights of the day included seeing the tigers being fed, seeing the free - roaming animals around the zoo like the wallabies, and seeing Esmerelda, the bird - eating spider. One group were lucky enough to even see a lion roar! Overall, a great time was had by all, staff and students alike. (Photos by Akshat Bhardwaj 9SP and Quique Julia De Pablo 9SPM)

DRAMA PRODUCTION

DRAMA TRIPS

Drama has had a great term for trips. The Year 13s had the great fortune to watch the highly anticipated Young Vic production of Hamlet starring Cush Jumbo, which was a fascinating look at gender identity in the role of Hamlet. Our Year 12 and 13s then went to watch 'Camp Siegfried' at the Old Vic, an eye - opening play that explores love and indoctrination in a Nazi Summer Camp in Upstate New York during the summer of 1938. Our final trip of the term was to watch the RSC production of William Shakespeare's 'Comedy of Errors', at the Barbican with our year 11 students. The play transported to the Middle East in the 1980s was a great success and the students loved it. A particular thank you goes out to Zachary Clayton whose knowledge of the Barbican and its architecture enabled us to make it to the right entrance. It was so nice to be back watching plays live again, and I am sure our dramatists would agree!!

We are excited to announce that the next school production is Guys and Dolls the musical . February 7 - 10th in the Main Hall. Tickets for Guys and Dolls are on sale now .

Click here to buy tickets or scan the QR code below. .

TIFFIN CHILDRENS CHOIR AND BOYS CHOIR

MERRY CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS!

The Head Prefect Team would like to wish you a Merry Christmas! They celebrated a busy and highly successful term for the team with our annual chocolate tasting. They hope all the students enjoy the holidays and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!!

The recording from the Royal Opera House of Hansel & Gretel (which both the Boys ’ Choir and Children ’ s Chorus feature on) is to be broadcast on Christmas Day at 6.30pm, on BBC Radio 3. A rather nice credit for the school in the Radio Times .

HAPPY HOLIDAYS